Chapter 20

Everyone in the livestream chat had watched SCP-096 slaughter the crew of the Giant Wolf Warship. Only then did they realize that no matter how much they had overestimated the horror of Containment Objects before...

They had still underestimated them.

These things were more terrifying than they could imagine. How were they supposed to predict what they could do?

They couldn't, damn it!

While everyone in the livestream chat was still reeling from the shock of SCP-096, it did not stop. Wailing, it accelerated toward Julang Star, on an arm of the River Styx Galaxy.

In Meleon Celestial City, within the Angel Nebula.

Holy Kesha had been lounging on her throne. But when she saw SCP-096 slaughter a million Julang Clan warriors in just ten seconds...

Without harming a single innocent bystander, she sprang from her throne under the stunned gazes of the other Angels. Staring at the livestream, she muttered, "Impossible!"

"Absolutely impossible!"

"Nothing in the universe can exceed the speed of light! That's a law of the universe!"

"Yet SCP-096 can fly faster than light!"

"This..."

Ever since Holy Kesha had overthrown Heavenly Scum King Huaye's Heavenly Palace Order, she had spent ten thousand years presenting herself, for the sake of protecting the Angel Civilization, as...

A cold, unfeeling ruler.

But SCP-096's astonishing display had shattered that composure.

She could hardly be blamed. Nothing this absurd had appeared since the birth of the Super God Universe.

At that moment, she became certain that Doctor Bai Ting of the SCP Foundation had not lied.

She had not even exaggerated. She had merely stated the facts.

The SCP Foundation really could use Containment Objects and the Civilization Heavenly Principle Consciousness to massacre a species. And judging by Bai Ting's tone...

An attack like this was nothing extraordinary within the SCP Foundation?

As the head of a single site, she could request one.

Once it was approved, she could launch it.

What kind of organization was the SCP Foundation? It had revealed only the tip of the iceberg, yet its power already exceeded anything Kesha could imagine.

Was it really an organization native to Earth?

It was terrifying!

For the first time, Holy Kesha—a woman who had dared to lead the female Angels in rebellion against Heavenly Scum King Huaye when she was still weak—understood what terror meant.

What it meant to be small.

What it meant to gaze up at something beyond her reach.

On Liyang Star, inside the Liyang Celestial Palace!

"Leina, when you go to Earth, you must follow the Code of Conduct!"

After seeing the livestream, Pan Zhen knew Bai Ting had not lied. Once he recovered from the shock, he warned Leina, "If you break those rules..."

"It won't just be you who suffers. All of Liyang Star will!"

"The SCP Foundation is terrifying!"

Pan Zhen considered the power SCP-096 had displayed and quickly understood that Liyang Star, like the Giant Wolf Civilization, stood no chance against it.

They had no ability to resist whatsoever.

To an elephant, there was no difference between a one-centimeter ant and a two-centimeter ant.

Either could be crushed without a thought.

Leina was frightened too. After hearing Pan Zhen's warning, she asked timidly, "Uncle Pan, can I stay off Earth?"

"The Liyang Celestial Palace seems pretty nice right now."

"I could stay here and watch the livestream."

Pan Zhen sighed. "No. You have to go."

"If we hadn't received permission, you could choose not to."

"But we've already been granted permission."

"You're going whether you want to or not!"

He paused, then continued, "Besides, this is an opportunity. If Liyang Star becomes a civilization that has established contact with the SCP Foundation..."

"We'll benefit enormously."

"Of course, once you reach Earth, don't go looking for the SCP Foundation."

"Just live your life as usual."

"If the SCP Foundation wants to contact you, it has ten thousand ways to do so. And if it doesn't want to be found, it has ten thousand ways to make sure you never find it!"

"Understand?"

Leina nodded in resignation, then went back to studying the Code of Conduct.

She was afraid she would fail to memorize it and break a rule on Earth.

And anger the SCP Foundation.

Aboard the Juxia, Ducao had gone completely numb.

After witnessing SCP-096's terrifying power, he thought that with an organization as unfathomable as the SCP Foundation on Earth...

Why would anyone need to worry about a Gluttonous invasion?

He had founded the Super God Academy, recruited Super Soldiers, and forged alliances across the universe... only to discover that all his work had been pointless.

Perhaps, in the SCP Foundation's eyes, he was nothing but a clown.

He was tired.

Whatever happened, happened.

From now on, he would drink tea and read the papers.

As for an interstellar invasion... with the SCP Foundation around, he doubted any civilization in the Super God Universe would dare try.

And the Super Soldiers he had spent thousands of years training?

He would leave them to the SCP Foundation.

From now on, he was stepping back completely. He would leave everything else alone.

As Ducao decided to wash his hands of it all, the powerful figures from the various native worlds in the livestream chat finally recovered from their shock...

And began filling the chat with messages.

[Kaido: That was terrifying! I'm nothing compared to SCP-096!]

[Child Emperor: It accelerated to a thousand times the speed of light. That's scientifically impossible!]

[Orochimaru: Of course it is. SCP-096 is a Containment Object. Science can't explain Containment Objects in the first place.]

[Black Zetsu: If I had SCP-096's power, I could rescue my mother.]

[Madara Uchiha: Black Zetsu, didn't you say you were born from my dark will? How could you have a mother? Tell me who you really are!]

[Hiruzen Sarutobi: Madara, didn't the First Hokage kill you? How are you still alive?]

[Miko: I wish I could make those Evil Spirits look at SCP-096's face!]

[Monster King Orochi: The Giant Wolf Civilization is finished. I wonder whether SCP-096 can wipe it out within twenty-four hours!]

[Giant Wolf Leader: Can anyone save us? If someone can get the SCP Foundation to stop this experiment, I'll hand over every piece of technology the Giant Wolf Civilization has!]

[Drive Knight: Send the technology to me first! I'll try messaging Doctor Bai Ting for you.]

[Tatsumaki: Are you out of your mind?]

[Drive Knight: Check your private messages!]

[Tatsumaki: That's right! Giant Wolf Leader, send us your technology first. I'll message her too!]

[Tsunade: I may lose every bet I make and be famous as a sucker, but even I can see you're setting him up! This scam is painfully obvious.]

[Luffy: Oh! So they're trying to trick the Giant Wolf Leader!]

[Tatsumaki: ...]

[Tsunade: ...]

[Miko: ...]

[...]

As the Giant Wolf Leader finally realized his civilization was doomed and desperately begged the livestream chat for help, SCP-096 accelerated toward...

The River Styx Galaxy.

It used neither a Great Worm Bridge nor a Void Passage to reach the River Styx Galaxy. Instead, it chose the most primitive way to travel: running!

It just ran rather fast!

Under the dumbstruck gaze of everyone in the livestream chat, SCP-096 exceeded ten thousand times the speed of light almost in the blink of an eye.

Then its speed continued to climb at a staggering rate!

A hundred thousand times light speed. A million. Ten million... a trillion!

Ten trillion times the speed of light!

SCP-096's speed seemed to have no upper limit. Even though everyone had braced themselves, watching it run at such an impossible speed...

Still left them dizzy.

They couldn't help it!

It was too damn unbelievable.

The distance between the River Styx Galaxy and the Galaxy could be measured in hundreds of millions of light-years. But at SCP-173's incredible speed...

That distance visibly shrank.

On the livestream, SCP-096, the Shy Guy, became a blurred streak racing through space, its anguished wails ringing out as it ran.

It was moving at an utterly unimaginable speed!

The livestream had to add a smaller view zoomed out to the galactic scale just to show SCP-096's trajectory.

SCP-096 ran in a straight line.

And it made no attempt to dodge. So although space was emptier than most people imagined, as SCP-096 ran...

It inevitably collided with celestial bodies in its path.